Sedgebrook opens busy kitchen to college-level cooking class

By Regina Harris
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

This semester, culinary students from the College of Lake County in Grayslake are studying the art of professional cooking in a real-life environment—the Shoreline restaurant at Sedgebrook.

A dozen cooks in the kitchen
Every Saturday starting at 7:45 a.m. until 2 p.m., “Principles of Food Preparation I” convenes in the community’s bustling kitchen, where aspiring chefs learn the tricks of the trade from professional chef instructors, and get a taste of what working behind the scenes in a busy, fast-paced restaurant is really like.

“We’re thrilled to be partnered with the College of Lake County,” says Sedgebrook’s director of dining services, Steve Aigner, who sees the class as a benefit to both Sedgebrook and the college. “We’re providing a state-of-the-art facility for the college to utilize. I’m excited that we will help individuals in our neighborhood be introduced to Erickson as a great place to both live and work.”

Ahead of the trend
The hands-on cooking class at Sedgebrook is one example of a larger trend in the world of higher education. More classes are being taught on weekends, evenings, and away from the traditional campus setting. These non-traditional classes are designed not only to accommodate Americans’ increasingly hectic schedules, but to attract older adults, who are returning to the classroom in ever greater numbers.

During the 1990’s, the percentage of older adults enrolled in at least one adult education class more than doubled, from 8.4% in 1991 to nearly 20% in 1999, according to the National Household Education Surveys. As attitudes towards retirement shift, the number of classes tailor-made for older adults is soaring, as is the number of seniors demanding them.